Martirosyan describes the sound change from Proto-Indo-European *w → Proto-Armenian *ɣʷ → Proto-Kartvelian *ɣw as impeccable[8] and says it is also observed in Proto-Indo-European *wi(H)- → Proto-Armenian *ɣʷi- (→ Old Armenian գի(gi, “juniper”)) → Proto-Kartvelian *ɣwi- → Georgian ღვია(ɣvia, “juniper”). According to others, however, the term was borrowed into Proto-Kartvelian directly from Proto-Indo-European;[2] for example, Klimov (1998) agrees with the ultimate Proto-Indo-European origin of the word but denies derivation from Old Armenian գինի(gini), citing Diakonoff: "It cannot go back to Armenian gini because the change *u̯ → g probably must have been accomplished there long before the first Kartvelian-Armenian contacts in the 7th–6th centuries B.C.".

Some scholars have argued the native Kartvelian origin of the word. For example, G. Tsereteli argued that the Proto-Indo-European*wóyh₁nom was in fact borrowed from Kartvelian via Semitic,[13] which has been accepted by other scientists.[14][15] Fähnrich, rejecting the Indo-European origin also considered the word to be a native South Caucasian formation derived from the Proto-Kartvelian verbal root *ɣun-(“to bend”) (whence Georgian ღუნვა(ɣunva), გადაღუნავს(gadaɣunavs), etc).[16]

^ Anna Meskhi (August, 2005), “The Totem and the Old World. The Caucasus - The Mediterranean - The Pyrenees: Review”, in (Please provide the title of the work)‎[1], archived from the original on 2011, retrieved 27 June 2016